Story+1984-12-16+Atlanta,+GA

´´Here´s a song about blind faith....how people....gotta believe in something so bad that they´ll believe in anything (?)....”
 * 16.12.84 Atlanta, GA, intro to ´Reason to Believe´**

´´Thanks, this is, uh....this a song about getting caught in-between....I guess, what you consider your duty to be and your family...and how it´s hard to know exactly what the right thing is sometimes....”
 * 16.12.84 Atlanta, GA, intro to ´Highway Patrolman´**

´´Thank you....this next song....I guess I wrote about in 19...late ´70´s, I guess, it was around....we were on tour, it was the ´Born to Run´-album and uh....we were down in Memphis...I remember it was about....3 a.m in the morning and, and we got in this taxi cab, me and Steve, my guitar player at the time....we got in that cab and....looking for a place to eat and the cab driver took us out past Elvis´ house....and uh, I remember I got out of the cab and I seen a light in the window....and uh, I jumped over the wall and ran up to the frontdoor (chuckles)....and....and later when I thought about it, I don´t know, if I had met Elvis, I don´t know what I would´ve said to him, the guards came out and they got me and I tried to say (?) like ´I was on the cover of Time and Newsweek´ and they said ´Yeah, sure you were (?)´ (chuckles)....they let me down and led me outside the gate....but uh....I don´t know, I think back at that night a lot of times (?)....´cause when he died, it was hard to understand how somebody....whose music came into so many people´s lives and took away so many people´s loneliness....made you feel like you weren´t alone....it was hard, hard to understand how he could´ve.... ended up seeming so lonely...I guess, uh....certainly in America, a dream....even a good dream that comes true is a dangerous thing....this is called ´Bye Bye Johnny´....”
 * 16.12.84 Atlanta, GA, intro to ´Johnny Bye Bye´**

´´Now, this song....is about ancient history....do we have any history majors out there ?....now, I´m not talking about the Mesopotamians....I´m not talking about the Trojans... I´m not talking about the Italians....I´m talking about personal stuff....the kind of stuff that, that when I die, you´re gonna read all about in the National Enquirer....or if my.... or if my girlfriend gets mad at me, you´re gonna read about it while I´m still alive.... in one of ´em tell-all books....about my unusual sexual habits and all that kind of stuff.... you see, when I was, when I was a kid, I was like interested in three things....and like, one....was pool ´cause my father was a real good poolplayer so I wanted to learn how to play really good....and then the other one, second was the guitar....and then the third one...that was....oh, you know, that one....anyway one Christmastime, I remember my mother took me to Sears and for 69.95, like, we bought this little pooltable and we tied it to the roof of the car, we drove home in the snow (?) and my father wouldn´t let me have it downstairs so, like, we had to lug it up the stairs....I remember it fit right in my bedroom....so then like I used to bring my girlfriends over and I would say to my Dad, I´d say: ´Dad, we´re gonna go up in my bedroom and play pool for a little while´....and ....but like he was really smart ´cause like the kitchen used to be right underneath my bedroom and if he didn´t hear the poolballs knocking around and if he didn´t hear the guitar strumming., he had this broomstick that he used to bang on the ceiling....to interrupt my concentration....but like I had it all figured out because like I used to pull the pooltable over real close to the bed and then every once in a while I would reach up and knock the poolballs around little bit....and them girls going : ´What are you doing, what are you doing now ?´ (chuckles)....anyway, I matured and I gave up pool ....and of the other two....the only one I really became proficient at was the guitar....but the third one....I´m still looking for some volunteers who wanna practise, practise, practise....gotta get it right....hurry up (chuckles)....all things must pass (chuckles)... but in the end...you ain´t left with nothing but glory days....”
 * 16.12.84 Atlanta, GA, intro to ´Glory Days´**

´´I remember when I was....I was about 16, I guess....I used to hate the town I grew up in....seemed like it was so narrowminded and....I used to get on the bus and go to New York much as I could, used to go down into East Village....was in the late 60´s....and uh....when I finally got a chance to get out of there, I never felt that I´d ever miss it again, that I´d ever wanna go back....but as I got older, I started to go back more often ....I´d get home from being on the road and I´d get in my car and I´d drive down through town and see what buildings were still there and what buildings were gone and where the new parking lots were (chuckles)...that used to be like, you know, a baseball field....but, uh, I guess a part of the thing that I was afraid of when I was a kid, seems to be I was always afraid of belonging to something...´cause when....when you say you belong to something, that implies some responsobility...like if you say ´Well, I´m an American´...that implies some responsobility that you have towards America....and tonight....when you go out into the lobby, you´re gonna see some, some folks....that are trying to live up to their responsobility in your community....they´re the Memphis Foodbank and uh, what a foodbank is, is, a foodbank, every year 20 percent of all the food that gets produced here in America just gets wasted, gets thrown away ....and meanwhile in all the cities, there´s people that are undernourished and aren´t getting enough to eat, it´s old people and young people....and the foodbank gets hold of that food and they try to get it to the agencies that can serve those people....and right here in Memphis....sorry (chuckles)....that´s what happens when you (boos) (chuckles)....go ahead and give it to me, I deserve it (boos and Bruucing)(chuckles).... right here in Atlanta (cheers)(chuckles)....oh, I´ll never live that one down (chuckles) ....right here in Atlanta, they serve 300,000 people every month.....and uh....you know, the food goes out to nursing homes and orphanages and people who the trickle-down-theory of economics hasn´t trickled on down to....and uh....so if you can, when you go out there, think about ´em, they´re Atlanta Community Foodbank.....they need money and they need volunteers with time, they need warehouse equipment....you know, they need, they need your help...and so do a lot of other people out there so if you can give a lot, give a lot, if you can give a little, give a little bit and uh....they´re trying to make your hometown a better and a more decent place to live....so this is your place so do something about it, thanks....”
 * 16.12.84 Atlanta, GA, intro to ´My Hometown´**

´´Now this is a song about the conflict.....between worldly things and spiritual health.....between the desire of the flesh....and spiritual ecstasy...now, where did this conflict begin ?.....well, it began in the beginning in a place called the Garden of Eden.....well, now, the Garden of Eden was originally believed to have been located in Mesopotamia....but the latest theological studies have found that its actual location was ten miles south of Jersey City, off the New Jersey Turnpike.....that´s why they call it the Garden State ....now, understand ....in the Garden of Eden, there were none of the accoutrements of modern living.....you couldn’t go home at night and put your little Pop-Tarts in the toaster and then jump in bed and watch Johnny Carson....you couldn’t go out on to the highway and buy a cheeseburger if you wanted one.....no Sir !....in the Garden of Eden there was no sin...there was no sex...man lived in a state of innocence ....now, when it comes to no sex, I prefer the state of guilt that I constantly live in .... but before the tour I decided to make a spiritual journey to the location of the Garden of Eden to find out the answer to some of these mysteries, why my body pulls me in one way and my soul pulls me in another so I hitchhiked on out there....I found out that that spot was now occupied by Happy Dan´s Celebrity Used Car Lot....I walked in, the man said to me ´Son, you need a yellow convertible , a four-door DeVille with a Continental spare, wide chrome wheels, air-conditioning, automatic heat, fold-out bed in your backseat, eight-track tapedeck , TV and a phone so you can speak to your loved one when you’re driving all alone’...I said ‘I’ll take two’...but then I said ´But Dan, that´s really not the reason I came...you see, I found, I wanna, I wanna know the answer to why I feel so much conflict all the time....and he said ´Well, son, that´s easy ....because right here on these ten beautiful industrially-zoned acres was the sweetest little paradise that man had ever seen, in the Garden of Eden there were many wonderous things : there was a Tree of Life, there was a Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, there was a man, Adam, there was a woman, Eve, and she looked so fine .... when Adam kissed her, son, it was the first time that a man had ever kissed a woman ....and she had legs that were long and soft to the touch....and when Adam touched her, it was the first time that a man had ever touched a woman...and then they went out into the green fields....and they lay down....and when Adam....well, let´s just say it was the first time....but there was something else in the Garden of Eden on that day, Satan came slithering up on his belly and somehow he turned their love into a betrayal but tonight right here on this backlot I have the car that they drove as they went running down into the darkness....for 99.95 and no money down and don´t worry if you´ve got bad credit, it´s good here....if you´ve got the nerve to ride....I´ve got the keys....to the first....pink....Cadillac....”
 * 16.12.84 Atlanta, GA, intro to ´Pink Cadillac´**

´´I remember it was the end of summer.... it was down off this strip by the river where I met her....and uh, first we started going out.... you know how it is when you´re first going with somebody, you´re laughing all the time....having a good time....everything is fun....she used to like to go out riding all the time....but then something, something kind of happened, the things that made her happy once....didn´t make her happy any more....and I was spending most of my time trying to figure out.... something to make her happy again, she got to where she just wanted to stay inside, she didn´t, like, talk to me like she used to....and then she got to where she´d hide my keys at night so that I couldn´t take the car out....I don´t know what happens...and it got hard to make her understand....that when I took the car out....and when I won....that it was the only time ...I got to feeling good about myself....and the good nights it was good times...and that to have just one thing....one thing that you can do that makes you feel proud of yourself...proud of being alive....that´s not too much for anybody to ask....is it ?.... (....) Well, that, that was the night that we left....we still don´t know where we´re going yet ....but I guess that´ll come in time....but sometimes it seems like time gets running so short on you....like it´s running out on you....and that so much gets left behind...so much gets lost somewhere....that there´s not much you can do....but keep going and keep searching....and keep going and keep going and keep going and keep going.....”
 * 16.12.84 Atlanta, GA, intro to ´Racing in the Street´**

´´Thank you, oh....I´d just like to take a minute and thank everybody for coming down to the show here tonight....I know, I know a lot of you guys waited out all night in line for tickets and stuff and I want you to know we appreciate it and know you´re out there (chuckles)....and I´d like to also thank you for your support of the Atlanta Community Foodbank....they can use your help, they´re out there doing a good job, a job that needs to be done....and a lot of the power of rock´n´roll always came from friendship....and community and kind of fighting off the darkness together a little bit.... and in the end, nobody wins unless everybody wins....”
 * 16.12.84 Atlanta, GA, intro to ´Born to Run´**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//